Category: Movies

Pop quiz (courtesy of Good Eats)

I watch a show that has been running since 1998, locally and then nationally, called “Good Eats”, hosted by chef Alton Brown. I just discovered the show this year. It runs in half-hour episodes, and while I don’t look to it for recipes, I do find it useful for cooking and grilling tips, and general information (like the difference between baking powder and baking soda). Brown has a delightful screen presence, so it’s been a pleasure to watch him age over time, to gain weight and then go back to svelte using diet tips I would throw out the window, but by which he lost 50 pounds. (Hint: Smoothies are not my thing.)

I tend to watch every episode, even as artichokes, beets and turnips are not of great interest.  But watching as I do early each evening (there are perhaps two hundred shows available by my count), I notice they occasionally (and subtly) toss in a movie or music reference, leaving it to the viewer to decide where it came from. Below are three I’ve picked up on, and I leave it to you to provide the reference. (It helps to have been born in the 20th Century.)

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Manipulative Melodies: Investigating Social Engineering in Music

I’ve been taking a stroll down memory lane with the top-selling albums of the 1970s, a sort of personal farewell tour. But don’t worry, this isn’t one of those “farewell” tours that music acts like The Who or Cher love to milk for decades. No, this is more like revisiting old haunts, savoring the bitter and the sweet, and offering a proper “so long” to the soundtrack of my youth. During the golden years of 1971 to 1980, I went from nine to eighteen—a stretch of time that perfectly bookended my high school era. Naturally, the music of this decade made a massive impression on me. But, like that friend who overstays their welcome, a lot of these songs have been played to death. My old kit bag will carry only a few carefully chosen relics as most of the overexposed hits are being gently but firmly shown the door.

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“Notable Death” Watch – (Earl Holliman)

Earl Holliman, a name every film buff should recognize, was one of those actors who seemed to pop up everywhere—movies, television, you name it. Born on September 11 (yep, even back then, the date existed), Earl’s biological father, William A. Frost, was a farmer. Now, here’s where it gets interesting—or awkward. Earl’s mom, Mary Smith (honestly, could her name sound any more like an alias?), already had six kids under her belt when Farmer Frost strolled into the picture.

But plot twist! Mary wasn’t married, and Frost apparently thought, “You know what this struggling, impoverished woman really needs? More drama!” According to Wikipedia, Mary had no choice but to give baby Earl up for adoption because, well, poverty and solo parenting don’t exactly scream “happily ever after.”

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My “notable death” Dossier (11/21/24)

Source-ery

Reggie Gibson, better known as the rapper Saafir, passed away on November 19. While no official cause of death has been released, it was reported that he had experienced ongoing health challenges since a severe back injury in 1992, sustained during his escape from the hard landing, crash, and subsequent fire of TWA Flight 843.

Details about Saafir’s early life and family are scarce. According to Wikipedia, he reportedly lived with Tupac Shakur during their youth. Given Tupac’s background as an effeminate ballet student at the time, some may speculate about the nature of their relationship, though this remains purely conjecture.

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The car chase

First, my hat is off to the cinematic expertise in the above chase scene. The cutting and splicing are superb, and the drivers, whoever they were, are highly skilled. If you start watching this (10:19) I will wager you finish it. The acting, what little is called for, is of three men who are calm as steel as they travel the hills of San Francisco and then end up on the outskirts, where finally, Lt. Frank Bullitt prevails. He avoids shotgun blasts and finally forces the two bad guys off the road and to flaming deaths.

Earlier in the movie, Lt. Bullitt is confronted by Walter Chalmers, played by Robert Vaughn, and Lt. Bullitt utters the word “Bullshit!” I was 18 at the time, and had never before heard a swear word uttered in a movie.

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How to avoid jet lag …

I have long wondered how executives and politicians manage to travel great distances and yet always seem fresh on arrival. Their time tables have to be screwed up. Yet they manage to sit through meetings and do some public speaking as if they were fresh.

I cannot do that. I need at least two days on arrival (in this case France) from Denver, an eight hour time difference. We do our best to stay awake as long as possible once we get here. Last night that was until 7:30 PM, and when I awoke at 11:30 PM I took a couple of sleeping pills that got me through until now, almost 3 AM Geneva time. I feel rested and refreshed, but there is along day ahead and another night of fighting to stay awake into a normal schedule. It usually takes those two days to work my  way into the new time zone. Continue reading “How to avoid jet lag …” →

Inlaws and Outlaws

Mark asked me if I had seen ‘The Outlaw Josie Wales’ and what I thought of it had I seen it. To get a running start, l need to talk about Vaxageddon.

The Good

I take care of my nonagenarian, bedridden, spoon fed mother who lives in an assisted living* facility. She is also attended to by the living saints who work there; bathing her, changing her, and feeding her. I don’t know how they do it, but these women who would not be given a second thought on the bus, the street, at the mall, the laundromat, are clearly higher life forms.

But wherever Good is found, Evil is sure to be lurking. Sometime ago, Sept. ‘21(?) California Governor Gruesome decreed that no one shall pass through the entrance of any assisted living facility without proof of vaccination. The alternative was proof of a negative test every 24 hours (this was the house rule- more stringent than Gov. Ghoul’s 72 hour cycle)

Obviously, getting tested every day was untenable, so with no more moves available, I submitted to the Pfizer double-tap. Result: Nothing. No symptoms, no growths, no third ear or second nose mutations- nada.

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Smartless … Jeff Bridges

I listen to podcasts these days when exercising, more so than music. There are a number of good ones out there. My own preference is comedy. It seems during lockdown people decided that being alone at home and hooking up via computers was a way to alleviate boredom. There are quite a few, my own favorites Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend and Fly on the Wall with David Spade and Dana Carvey.

One that I picked up on is called Smartless, which has three hosts: Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett, the latter one of my favorite comedic actors. He played Job on Arrested Development. Bateman, of course, is one of our Brats, part of the Matt Damon group, and appears unaware of it. He is not aware of us, of course, but his own “chosen” nature. He had an unhappy childhood and that sort of thing. He’s been employed on one thing or another his entire life, including Arrested Development, where he shows great comedic chops (along with Arnett). Hayes I know nothing about, a costar in Will and Grace, a show I never watched.

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Native Americans Need Not Apply

Dutton Family Home on Yellowstone Ranch

We’ve been watching the TV series Yellowstone these past couple of weeks. It’s well-acted and the writing is intense, violence always threatened to break out anywhere. The series is supposedly set in Montana and near Bozeman. Indeed some of the street scenes are of Bozeman, meaning a movie crew did some filming there, but without the actors in the series.

The series stars Kevin Costner as owner of the Yellowstone John Dutton Ranch, a massive complex that appears to be located in Paradise Valley near Livingston, Montana. In real life, the outdoor sequences were filmed near Darby, Montana, a small town located near the far western border of the state. Indoor sequences are shot on massive sound stages in Park City, Utah.

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Overdub this!

Overdub: to add other recorded sound or music, as a supplementary instrumental or vocal track, to a taped musical track to complete or enhance a recording.

I recently purchased a CD set containing 78 songs by the late Glen Campbell, perhaps the best all-around musician I have ever seen perform. My objective was to create a playlist on my iPhone of maybe 10-15 songs. My music library that I use when driving or working out at the gym is a large collection of classical music, too much of it. I wanted some diversity, and so lately have added the Carpenters, Charlie Haden and Hank Jones, and now Glen. Man have my tastes changed over time! For each song on the Campbell CDs, the people who assembled the body of work gave full credit to the musicians who worked over the song before, during and after the vocal tract was laid down. (With Campbell, it would have been vocal and guitar, as he was among the best guitarists in the world.) Then other musicians and engineers go to work on it. For Wichita Lineman, for example, we get this:

(Song written by Jimmy Webb)

Featuring Campbell, Donald Bagley, Al Casey, Jim Gordon, Carol Kaye

Overdub musicians: Samuel Boghossian, A.D. Brisbos, Roy Canyon, Joseph DiFiore, Jesse Ahrlich, Virgil Evans, Bob Felts, Anne Goodman, Jim Horn, Dick Hyde, Norman Jeffries, Willilam Kurasch, Richard Leith, Leonard Malarsky, Michael Melvin, Wilbert Nuttycombe, Jerome Reisler, Ralph Schaffer, Sidney Sharpe, Robert Sushal, Tibor Zelig

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